The present invention relates generally to the field of confidential information protection and more particularly to protecting confidential information when communicating using external networks and services.
There are a number of convenient, external web services for sharing information, team collaboration, and group communication. Some of these web services may provide a version control repository, source code management, and internet hosting services for coordinating work on computer files and tracking changes on files when multiple users are inputting to files. Other web services may provide cloud-based team collaboration tools where a team owner may invite specific individuals or identified groups of users to join a community, for example, through a specific provided URL or e-mail invitation. Some of the communities may be categorized by topics of discussion of interest to a group of users or team members. In some cases, web services provide public channels that allow team members to communicate without the use of e-mail or group messaging using a short messaging service (SMS). Some web services provide private channels allowing private conversations between smaller identified groups or team members. In various web services, a direct message group may be created by a user or originator and, in some web services, the direct message group can be converted into a private channel, for example, to discuss activities related to a specific work item or sub-project.